Welcome to My Ultimate Hike Page

The official title for this hike is the Raleigh/Umstead CureSearch Hike, but I'm giving it my own personal subtitle: Yumi's Umstead March! (Acronym-YUM!)

Yumi is a ten-year-old who was preparing for Christmas with the rest of her family in Dec '17 when a doctor's visit turned into an extended personal and family nightmare. She had been disgnosed with leukemia, and began immediate treatments to try to beat back the ravages of the disease.

Yumi has made great progress over the past year and a half. She's very fortunate. Across America, there is an average of 43 families every day that receive news similar to Yumi's--that an innocent youngster has suddenly been thrust into a fight for life. Medical advances in recent years have improved survival rates, so about 38 of tomorrow's 43 will probably make it through adolescence and into adulthood. But the struggle is long and hard, frequented by pain, and always under a dark cloud of concern--will there be another birthday? another Christmas?

CureSearch has a mission to improve the odds, and to ease the path. Raising dollars to fund research, CureSearch has an ultimate goal of prevention; and where cancer hasn't been prevented, then to find a cure; and where a cure is still elusive, to find treatments, especially treatments less invasive and exhausting than the current regimen of chemo, radiation, and surgery. That's why this hike has been organized--to raise dollars to fund research.

About my subtitle: Yumi's Umstead March! I like the idea of calling this event a march, as opposed to a hike. Anyone can go for a hike. A hike is something you do to enjoy the outdoors, get some exercise, work up your heartrate and break out a sweat. Hiking is fun--you do it because you want to and you like it. Bywords are 'recreational activity', 'hobby', and 'passtime.'

A march, on the other hand, is work. It's what an army does when it has a mission, an objective. It's an organized movement of people who are assembled together under the banner of a common purpose. A march is undertaken because something needs to be accomplished, because something is wrong that needs to be righted. Here the bywords are 'mission', 'conflict', and 'urgency'.

By this time tomorrow, there will be 43 new families thrust into an urgent conflict with cancer. Their sudden new mission will be survival. I'm joining this march to help them in their cause. You can join too--perhaps as a donor, or an event-day volunteer, or by lacing up your boots and joining me on the trail. If none of those fit, then be an encourager. Send out a note saying you are with me in purpose and spirit--it will help keep me energized and focused while on the march.

Thank you, on behalf of families like Yumi's across the country, for whatever form of help you can send